Corrective shoe



Oct. 1, 1940. SABEL ET AL 3 CORRECTIVVE SHQE Filed Dec. 25, 1957 Patented Oct. 1, 119 40 oonaiic'rrvii SHOE Isadore Sahel, Philadelphia, Pa., and Laurie S. Macdonald, Brockton, Mass; said Ma'cdonald I assignor to Thompson Bros. Shoe 00., Brockton,

Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts j Application December 23, 1937,;Serial No. 181,344

4 Claims. (or 36--8.5)

Qur invention relates to a corrective shoe and more, especially to a. shoe for use on a foot which hasv been operated onto correct the deformity The; most common forms of congenital club-foot are talipes varus, in which the foot is turned inwards and shortened, the inner edge of the foot being raised so that the child walks on the outer edge, and talipes equino-varus, wherein in addition the heel isdrawn up. Generally it is impossible to twist or coax congenital club-foot into improved condition and radical treatment is prescribed wherein the'surgeon makes a subcutaneous division'oi tendons and ligaments or sometimes,,,by means of a free transverse incision, sees exactly what structures are at fault and in need of divisionskin, faciae,tendons, ligaments; ev-

erything, in short, which prevents the easy recti fication of the deformity, and operates accordingly.

I There'is great danger after an apparently successful operation for the foot to constantly.re-'

" lapse into its old position, especially after the plaster cast or braces 'are removed, and it is attempted'toexercise'thefoot. In ourprior patent No. 1,952,684, issued March 27, 1934, we have ,3) disclosed a form of shoe for use on a foot which has been operated. on to correct the above deformities, the shoe of "our prior patent being constru cted on lines to overcome the existing tend ency of the forepart of such a foot to turn in v 5 wardly, the shoe at the same time providingthe desirable. freedom of movementto themuscles and bones of the foot to permit Walking, or the like, without discomfort to the child wearing the shoe.

4o ,Theprescnt invention relates'to still further improvem'entsin shoes of this nature, and one of the principal objects of the invention is to bring about a form of shoe which may not only hcldthe foot in corrected'position but which is r prefer to provide the improved shoe with a stiff- 45 45 capable. of opposing or counteracting any tendency of; the child, in walking, to roll or twist the foot, together with the shoe, back towards its original uncorrected position and to support its weight, on theoutside edge of the shoe.

"50 In amore specific aspect it is an object ofthe" invention to bring about a form of shoe of the above type,;and especially an outer sole there fonwhich. is so constructed and arranged, as to forcethe foot, and shoe thereon back intothe 55 normal correctedfoot position whenever the child attempts to roll its"v foot or to Walk on the outside edge of the outer sole of the shoe or the side of the shoe as a whole. f 7

To these andother ends, the invention consists in the novel features and combinations of parts 5. to be hereinafter described and claimed;

In the drawing, r

Fig. 1 is a. plan ,view of a shoe for the left foot made in accordance with the invention;v V

Fig. 2 is a side" elevational View of the shoe 10 shown in 1;

Fig. 3 is a crosssectional view along line 3'-3 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is anend elevational' View of the heel shown in Fig. 1'.

- The shoe shown in the drawing is illustrative of the application of our invention to a shoe made by the well-known Goodyear weltprocess, andincludesthe upper ID, the two side members, viz., the inside quarter llyand the outside quar ter 12', of which the adjacent edges are spaced apart on either side of the medial vent 13, each quarterbeing provided with a row of eyelets 1'4, forithe reception of the usual shoe laces, the inturned bottom edges" of the upper It being at- 25 tached by the usual stitching to the welt l5 and to the lip of the'inner sole I6;

Preferably, in accordance with the teaching of our prior patent referred to above, the whole forepartof the shoe shown herein is swung outwardly untilthe medial'aXis of the forepart forms an approximately straight line extension of the medial axis of the heel portion. For comparison,

Figure 1 of the drawing shows in dotted lines the'position of the forepart of a left shoe for a normal foot,the longitudinal medial axis of the forepart of which shoe intersects at an obtuse angle the medial'longitudinal axis of the heel portion, atra. point somewhat in advance of the breast line of the heel, such medial axis of the 40 "forepart being inclined substantially inwardly withjrespec ti' to the medial axis of 'the heel portion. 7 I I [Also in accordance with our" prior patent we foot of the child is held in what may be'termed an over-corrected position with the fore'p'art of the foot well outside of the normal'positiomthus greatly facilitating the permanent correction of sole, thus defeating the purpose of the shoe in holding the foot in corrected position. The further improvements in our shoe for overcoming this difliculty, as well as to give added advan-- tage to the shoe in exercising the corrected foot in a manner such as to overcome the inherent tendency thereof to return to its original position, will now be described. l

The welt I5 on the inner sideof the shoe is provided with the usual or normal extension while along the outer side of the shoe the welt, as at I8, has arelatively wide extension. The outer sole I9, is stitched to the welt in the usual manner and along its outside edge 2| is of greatly increased thickness as compared to its inner edge 22. Preferably the increased thickness of the shoe bottom along its outer side is produced by a wedge lift 23, inserted between the outer sole I9 and 'the'welt I5, the thick portion ofv the wedge extending along the outside edge of the shoe bottom, the wedge being skived to taper inwardly to a thin edge extending approximately along the medial line of the shoe and from one end to the other.

The outer sole I9, on the inner side of the shoe, is flush with the outer edge of the welt while, on the outer side f the shoe, the sole I9 flares downwardly and outwardly to bring about an extension of the sole in. excess of that of the welt at this point. It will also be noted that the heel 24 at its outer side likewise flares downwardly and outwardly in conformitywith the sole I9. It would be within the invention to give the welt I5, at the outer side of the shoe, an extension equal to that of the outer sole but, by means'of the flare given to the "sole, and heel in connec tion with the rolled or rounded outer edge 25 of the welt, we are able'to obtain the important results hereinafter described while minimizing the visual effect of the wide extension, so that the shoe does not look greatly different from the usual shoe.

The extended portion of the counter on the outer side of the shoe forms an anchorage against which the forepart of the foot is held in corrected position by the upper, when the latter is laced, the counter not only serving to keep the forepart in the prescribed position but, in case the child should tend to roll "its foot and attempt to walk on the, outer flared edge of the sole, serving to keep the foot from sliding towards this edge of the shoe. Thus, when the weight is placed on a foot so rolled the foot is held in a position spaced inwardly of the outer edge of the bottom of the shoe, this outer edge forming a fulcrum point about which the shoe is swung back into its intended position with the bottom of the sole resting on the ground.

As pointed out above, the child during theact of walking, tends "to swing the corrected foot back towards its uncorrected position, that is to say, with the forepart of the foot swung inwardly and upwardly. The shoe disclosed herein counteracts thisuncon'scious tendency of the child even in such extreme cases as where the. child attempts to walk on the outside edge of the foot.

2,216,630 I Li .i

During its normal use the improved shoe, through the provision of an outersole whose bottom face is at an angle to the bottom of the foot, constantly flexes the foot in a direction away from the unconscious tendency of the child and through the exercise given to the foot in this manner effectively overcomes the tendency of-the foot to return to its uncorrected position} i Furthermore, the combination of the wedge in the shoe bottom together with the flare given to the outersole on its outside edge creates a condition wherein if the child attempts to roll its foot to the extent of walking on the outside edge of the outersole that portion of the outersole which,

under these conditions, will contact the ground is located not only markedly below but also laterally to the outside of the shoe, so that when the weight of the child is placed on the foot the shoe will force the foot back to its corrected position. The construction thus not only prevents the child in extreme cases from rolling its foot out of corrected position to the point where the child walks on the outside edge of the shoe but in all cases constantly exercises'the foot'by flexing it in a direction away from the uncorrected position thereof. j

In practice the shoes are preferably made'with extra heavy single'soles, wedged about A on the outer border, and include a rigid steel shank, which is, however, not'shown herein as it does not form a part of the invention. The thickness of the Wedge may, of course, be varied in accordance with the amount of outward swing necessary in individual cases;

While we have shown and described a preferred form of the invention, it will be readily understood that it is not to be limited to the details shown, but is capable of modification and variation within the spirit of the inventionfiand the scope of the, appended claims.

What I claim is: o

1. In a corrective shoe for treating talipes varus after the deformed foothas been corrected by surgical operation and in which shoe the fore part and heel part have their respective medial axes in substantially straight line continuations of each other, the combination of an upper; a welt attached tothe upper and an outer sole attached to the welt, said welt having a greater extension on the outer side of the shoe than on the inner side, and said outer sole having its edge portion flush with the edge of the'welt on the inner side of the shoe and flaring outwardly and downwardly from the welt on the outer side of the shoe, the edge of the welt on the outer side of the shoe being rolled, the outer solebe ing of greater thickness at its outer edge than at its inner edge.

2. The combination, in a corrective shoe for treating talipes varus after the same has been corrected by surgical operation, of an upper and its outside edge portion during the act of walking whereby to oppose the inherent tendency of the user to roll the forepart of the foot back into its original uncorrected position, said means includingan outer sole having an inner-side substantially flush with the upper and an outer side extending markedly beyond the upper, said outer sole being of greater thickness adjacent its outer edge than adjacent its inner edge.

3. The combination, in a corrective shoe for treating talipes varus after the same has been corrected by surgical operation, of an upper and a relatively stiff shoe bottom including fore and heel parts whose medial axes are substantially in straight line continuations of one another so as to throw the forepart of the foot in a direction away from its uncorrected position, and means associated with the forepart of the shoe for forcing the forepart of the foot to roll upwardly at its outside edge portion during the act of walking whereby to oppose the inherent tendency of the user to roll the fo-repart of the foot back into its original uncorrected position, said means including a welt extending around the forepart of the shoe bottom and an outer sole having an inner side substantially flush with the edge of the welt, and an outer side extending markedly beyond the edge of the welt, and a wedge inserted between the outer sole and the welt at the outer edge of the shoe bottom so that the latter is of greater thickness adjacent its outer edge than adjacent its inner edge.

4. The combination, in a corrective shoe for treating talipes varus after the same has been corrected by surgical operation, of an upper and a relatively stiff shoe bottom including fore and heel parts Whose medial axes are substantially in straight line continuations of one another so as to throw the forepart of the foot in a direction away from its uncorrected position, and means associated with the forepart of the shoe for forcing the forepart of the foot to roll upwardly at its outside edge portion during the act of walking whereby to oppose the inherent tendency of the user to roll the forepart of the foot back into its original uncorrected position, said means including an outer sole having its inner side substantially flush with the edge of the upper and an outer side flaring downwardly and outwardly markedly beyond the edge of the upper, and a wedge inserted between the bottom of the shoe and the outer sole at the outer side of the latter.

ISADORE SABEL. LAURIE s. MACDONALD. 

